Police Cmdr. Henry Gomez said Robles likely tip-toed out of the house's backdoor just minutes after the first police officers arrived at 10:30 a.m. and saw Robles slam a door shut.

The entire incident began when the house's owner sent two maintenance workers to the home to prepare it for new tenants. They were working inside when Robles entered, flashed a gun, claimed he lived there, and ordered them to leave, Gomez said. The maintenance workers left and called 911.

"Robles, who was previously a tenant, did not have permission to be inside," Gomez said.

Monday's standoff put the entire neighborhood on-edge as evacuated residents waited for hours for it to end.

"Delbert Robles, this is the Salinas Police Department. The house is completely surrounded and we are not going away," one officer said over the megaphone Monday. "We know you are in there. If you have a weapon inside, leave it inside the residence, do not bring it with you."

"Nobody is going to get hurt," Robles' aunt said over the megaphone. "Come out with your hands up baby. Show them you don't have a gun. Leave the gun inside."

"He should give up. What is he trying to prove? It's not worth it," Salinas resident Sylvia Martinez said while watching the standoff.

At 5 p.m., SWAT team members threw a phone into the house in hopes that Robles would pick up the phone and start talking. At 6 p.m., officers threw tear gas into the house to force Robles out. And just before 8 p.m., SWAT team members stormed the house. Investigators determined that Robles must have escaped undetected before police fully surrounded the house and the standoff began.

Officers said Robles had been in a standoff with Salinas police before, and he surrendered peacefully the last time.

He is now wanted for brandishing a weapon, trespassing, and violating his probation.